NOVGO.NET Chapter 1396 Coincidence
Chapter 1396 Coincidence
As multiple figures advanced out from the portal, Anorah’s eyes flickered. She began to analyze.
‘Five of them. All resistance members.’
She saw their forms even before the bright light dimmed. No impostors. All genuine.
When the radiance finally faded and the chamber’s eyes settled on them, Anorah suddenly raised her hands and began clapping. There was a brief pause before others joined, until the hall erupted in a wave of cheers.
She stepped forward.
“Welcome back, High Synod Mathias,” she said, her voice carrying across the room. “You’ve achieved something truly great.”
Mathias bowed deeply, his demeanor humble. “It was nothing, Saint. I only performed my duty.”
“That you did,” Anorah replied with a faint smile, though her piercing eyes expressed just how bullshit this situation was.
“And you performed it splendidly.”
He bowed once more, but Anorah’s gaze was already shifting toward the newly rescued.
They looked drained. Their clothes were torn and their faces weary and pale. Sadness flashed through her eyes. She addressed them.
“You’ve endured much to stand here again. You are safe now, and what you need most is rest. Take comfort in knowing your struggle was not in vain.”
She looked toward One, and when their stares met, countless words passed silently between them.
“See to it that their needs are met,” she instructed.
One inclined his head. “Let’s go,” he said gently, leading the survivors away.
As they left, Anorah’s expression shifted. The sadness evaporated from her face, replaced with a sharper, piercing intensity. She turned toward Mathias, her stare weighing on him.
“Why don’t we take this elsewhere,” she said. “Perhaps you might enlighten me as to how you accomplished this great task.”
“…of course, Saint.”
…
Anorah walked briskly through the grand halls of her Sanctum, One trailing behind her.
“What’s on your mind?” One asked.
Anorah didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she increased her pace.
“There’s something wrong,” she finally said.
“We know this already.” One shook his head. “But what?”
When Anorah didn’t answer, he decided to change his question.
“What did you find out from Mathias?”
As the memories of her meeting with Mathias flowed through her mind, her frown only grew.
“He was telling the truth.”
“So it’s a coincidence.”
Anorah narrowed her eyes. She didn’t like that word. In the world of gods and stars, the word coincidence shouldn’t exist. Everything occurred for a reason.
Still, the meeting left Anorah confused. She was coming from her meeting with Mathias, where he had narrated all that occurred to her. In everything he said, Anorah hadn’t sensed even a shred of a lie.
He had received a sudden tip from one of his planted people, and he had acted quickly to save the captured resistance members. There was no plot involved, no hidden motive.
But was this truly a coincidence?
‘He’s not like that,’ Anorah thought, recalling everything she knew about Mathias. Though they sometimes butted heads during meetings, she knew Mathias wasn’t the type that would betray the resistance.
“It’s not… I can feel something’s wrong. I just can’t place it.”
One nodded approvingly. “I can see your father’s lessons haven’t gone to waste. Can you remember his teaching about coincidence?”
Anorah’s eyes sharpened as she searched her memories. Just like her, One, being her father’s closest aide, had also been his student. Well, in a more philosophical sense. Only she had learned Logoth.
Anorah’s eyes slowly widened the moment she recalled his words.
“Say the words,” One urged.
“Chance is the mask worn by intention.”
One nodded. “What’s its meaning?”
Anorah turned to him. “What looks random is really design. Someone else’s design.” She frowned. “The intel wasn’t random. Someone intended for him to receive it.”
“Who?” One asked.
The image of a man lying beneath her feet filled her eyes.
“Kaino.”
“And what does that mean?”
“He’s planning something.”
“What is he planning?”
Her frown deepened. “Too hard to tell.”
One suddenly outpaced her and stood in front of her. He stared at her with a serious expression.
“You have the means. Make use of it.”
Though the words were cold, they didn’t hide the truth in them. She wasn’t making use of her most powerful weapon.
Logoth.
In the next moment, she slipped into the state of perfect clarity and saw everything for what it was.
“The rescued members…” Anorah muttered under her breath,
“They work for him.”
She glanced toward One, who regarded her with a smile.
“What are your orders, Saint?”
Anorah paused for a moment. It was another tricky situation. Though she suspected the rescued members, she couldn’t simply act.
Right now, the eyes of the entire resistance were focused on them. Any rash actions could effortlessly turn them against her.
Especially when the rescued members weren’t impostors. She had confirmed this herself earlier. Their faces, heights, weight, and body structure fit what she remembered of them.
Suddenly, Anorah heard Atticus’ voice slip into her mind.
This would all end if she simply put them in their place. She let out a breath.
“Watch them.”
…
Night quickly descended. The whole of Asterra had been in a celebratory mood since the arrival of the captured resistance members.
Since the strict Saint gave the order to celebrate, none of them had held back. Though most celebrated from their homes, the party was focused in the Saint’s Sanctum, where resistance members from different worlds swarmed the rescued, urging them to tell the tale of their capture and rescue.
Clusters of people gathered around each member, and the air was bustling with excitement. Though it was the first time the Will Guard had ever captured a resistance member, it was commonplace for the other major factions.
And once captured, none had ever returned alive. Many stared at the rescued members like legends.
Soon enough, when it was deep into the night and the excitement dwindled, multiple figures made their way from the Sanctum and into a dark, quiet alleyway.
As they gathered, they nodded once to one another before one man rolled up his sleeve. His will flared, light spilling from his arm, and with a sharp motion, a dome snapped into place around them. The air inside grew heavy as their wills were cut off.
“There,” he muttered, lowering his arm. “She won’t be able to listen to us now.”
His eyes scanned the others, a cold glint flickering in his gaze.
“Well? What do you have?”